Ad-Rock Says James Murphy Broke His Refrigerator

Last week, at a screening of Frances Ha, we tried to get Ad-Rock talking about the Beastie Boys memoir he’s writing with Mike D. We got a little bit on that front, but were mostly just treated to his random thoughts on Sting, James Murphy, and The Face magazine. Here, a slightly condensed version of our conversation, including commentary from his lifelong friend, actress, and “Fight for Your Right to Party” star Nadia Dajani. She’s a delight.

Do you keep a diary or journal or anything? Do you have notes?AH: No.Nadia Dajani: But I have early scrapbooks, and I’m gonna give him a bunch of stuff. I saved a lot.

Like what? Magazine clippings, or?AH: I got stuff. [To Nadia.] You have a memory, which I don’t.ND: And I wrote everything down in early journals.AH: Do you think that Sting [who was at the event to support his daughter, Mickey Sumner, who stars in Frances Ha] is thinking about weird sex right now?

It’s funny, when he and Trudie Styler [his wife] were on the carpet, all I could think was tantric sex. [They’ve talked openly about having it.]AH: Or maybe ask him about the thing from the seventies that was like the Scorpio/Virgo, like the signs in the sex positions … the asterisk signs … the aster-al —

Astrological.AH: Boom. I said asterisk.ND: But also, [sex] for fourteen hours? I will set you on fire. Like, you gotta have time for breaks for snacks, YouTubing, some e-mailing. But then you’re going to talk to the world about how you have sex for fourteen hours? I’ll punch you in the face.AH: Hey, mazel tov.ND: I mean, if you can get it.

So you haven’t started the memoir yet, but you’re getting all the stuff out.AH: It’s gonna be great. We got a long deadline, so we’re good.

When’s the deadline?AH: I don’t know.ND: Do you guys have a deadline?AH: I don’t know. I’m assuming they will want it at a certain date, what with the money and all.

So what do you have — photos, magazines?ND: I do have a lot of photos, and color slides, most of which I haven’t even looked at.AH: We’ve been friends since kindergarten, off and on.ND: Off and on. You jerk. Yeah, we grew up across the street from each other, and our older siblings were in school together and —

So you have the archive.ND: I have some. The truth is — this is the truth, all snark aside: If I had known what their band was going to be, I probably would have really kept things. But who knew that they were gonna do so well? AH: I’ve got a lot of stuff.ND: You do? I felt like you lost a lot of stuff in moving.AH: I still got stuff.

Was there a point when you started saving stuff because you thought you might do this one day?AH: I always saved stuff that I thought was like — you know, [if] you’re gonna be in a magazine? That’s cool. When I was a kid, I collected The Face magazine, the British magazine. And then we were in The Face magazine! And so I got it. It was us, LL Cool J, some other motherfuckers in there, and I got so excited and opened it up and we’re in the gatefold, I’m in the crease. And I look like this [makes a face].ND: You look like the circus clown whose face is deformed?AH: And I have a nervous smile. It’s so bad.ND: Was that your lip phase?AH: Worse.ND: He used to do this thing in the beginning where he would talk with his lip up, like that.AH: Billy Idol.

Why does he owe you $150?AH: Well, he stayed at my apartment a long time ago and broke the refrigerator and didn’t get it fixed. I had to fix it.

How’d he break it?AH: I don’t know! It was just broken. He stayed at my place, and I moved back in and the refrigerator didn’t work. I was like, “Dude, what’s up with the refrigerator?” He was like, “Oh yeah!” What kinda shit is that?ND: The moral of the story is Don’t let James Murphy, with a diaper bag, near your house.

I actually did notice that bag.ND: Al lright, I got a thing for you. Would you rather, blindfolded, reach into James Murphy’s diaper bag, or —AH: Sting’s pants?ND: Listen to Sting talk about his fourteen-hour tantric sex. Go!AH: Sting.ND: I did not think you were gonna choose Sting!AH: Because I could fall asleep listening to Sting, and I could have a nice, long nap.ND: But anything you could touch in James Murphy’s diaper bag is going to stay with you for a long time.

Sting is Mickey Sumner’s dad.AH: Mykki Blanco?ND: That’s Sting’s daughter! Oh, snap! That’s Sting and Trudie’s daughter.AH: She has a reggae record. Someone told me she had a reggae record, years ago.ND: No, they have another kid that’s a musicianAH: You know the rapper Mykki Blanco.

Yeah.AH: Okay, just throwing that out there.ND: Imagine your dad was Sting and you had to read about your dad having tantric sex for fourteen hours. I’d kill myself.AH: Imagine if your dad was Stephen Tyler!